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Thread: Grain of Tmax 100 versus 400

  1. #1

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    Mar 2005
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    Grain of Tmax 100 versus 400

    I like to shoot pictures which include people, and there are many occasions where the extra speed of Tmax 400 would be useful. I tend to stick with one film (Tmax 100 4x5) to keep my life simple, so I am curious about other's experience before get a box and burn a lot of time testing. I scan my negatives work digitally. I process in Tmax RS. Thanks!

  2. #2
    MIke Sherck's Avatar
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    Mar 2002
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    Grain of Tmax 100 versus 400

    While I use a lot of T-max 100, I don't really care for the 400. For a higher-speed film, my personal preference is Tri-X. While it has larger grain than T-Max 400, I like the tonality better. It seems "smoother" to me; less harsh, particularly for portraits. I rarely enlarge 4x5 any bigger than 16x20 and most of my prints are 11x14.
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  3. #3

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    Sep 2003
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    Grain of Tmax 100 versus 400

    My Microtek 2500 has been tested, and it gets quite close to 2500 ppi. At that scanning level, TMY grain is just barely visible. TMX grain is not. However, since my largest magnification has been only around 4x, grain has never been an issue. If your scanner is among those which promise a higher resolution than they deliver, you may not get down to the grain anyhow.

    All things being equal, I think you will appreciate the extra speed of TMY. I recommend it developed in Pyrocat HD, and many people claim that staining developers give finer grain than non-staining developers. My experience with the two films led me away from what I experienced as more empty shadows in the 100-speed version - but if your goal is to make grainless prints at 10x magnification, then choose the film with finer grain.

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